Gunfire Spitfires
by signelchan
Summary: The Grimleal have taken over Ylisse executing the Shepherds as well as anyone affiliated with them - minus their grown children, who are forced to witness these murders and live in their wake. But they won't take this injustice without a fight, especially given their position and attributes that could either aid a rebellion or hurt it. [Modern-ish AU]


**tw: guns, murder, blood**

The ringing in her ears hadn't gone away in days, even though she wished it would, but Kjelle was thankful that, of all the sounds that were lingering, it was that and not some of the other parts of the scene. It could've been worse, she could've been reliving the impact of the gunshots themselves, or the screams of everyone on the street when they realized there'd been people shot and killed on the spot, or the cut-off last words she'd been being told when the attack had happened. With all that in mind, the ringing caused by the closeness of the shots wasn't the worst thing she could've been stuck with.

After all, she could've been left listening to her mother's last words to her on repeat, even more than she had been. "It's a disgusting world, but we're making the best of it," she clearly remembered being told, as they waited to cross the street downtown that afternoon. "As long as we keep our noses out of where they don't belong, we'll be—" She was going to say "we'll be fine", Kjelle knew that because it was something she'd been told over and over again, but that was when a single shot cut her off, hitting her from behind without any way to dodge or even know it was coming. In the time she fell into the street, several more shots were fired, accurately striking the other adults that she was there with, taking them all down without giving them the chance to give proper farewells.

In one afternoon she'd gone from having both her parents (something that wasn't a majority thing within her group of friends) to having neither, and in the days since the incident she hadn't been able to forget about what had happened to them. They'd been doing their best to keep themselves out of the political mess that had befallen Ylisse, but her mother's involvement had been present long before anything had started; just like so many of the other murders that had happened in the previous few months, the targets were people who'd been closely aligned with the former Exalt of the country. If only they hadn't been out that day, if they'd chosen to stay at home and not gone out with friends for a group lunch, then there wouldn't have been three murders there in broad daylight.

To put it lightly, on top of the constant ringing she'd been forced to endure, the guilt that it was _her_ fault they were out and available to be attacked had been eating at Kjelle's soul since everything had gone down. She was the one who'd suggested it to her parents, because she truly believed in her mother's words that they would be fine doing what they did, and they were happy to spend some time with their fiercely-independent daughter for an afternoon. It wasn't fair that they'd gotten killed doing something that they enjoyed doing, and not only that, but it wasn't fair that the people they'd invited along had to have their lives permanently altered as well.

The gentle knock at her door was something that had been fading in and out with the ringing for a few hours, and Kjelle wasn't sure if she wanted to know who was waiting on the other side or not. Even though she knew any kind of intruder or murderer would be accosted by her roommates, there was still the worry in the back of her mind that if she opened the door she'd be killed in the same manner as her parents had been, unarmed, unaware of what was happening, and without any chance to fight back. "Can you please open the door sometime this week?" a snappy voice asked from the other side, friendly enough to register in her head that they weren't going to hurt her. "You need to talk to someone about what happened, doing this to yourself isn't helping!"

"People handle grief in different ways," a second voice chimed in, this one less pushy and more understanding. "We have to give her time to handle it herself, she lost both her parents in a moment, she's not going to go right back to being her usual self after that."

"Yeah, duh, do you think I'm stupid? I know she's not going to suddenly get over losing them, but if she keeps locking herself in her room she's never going to start getting over it!" Instead of another knock, the handle to the door was jostled, but Kjelle had locked it long before anyone had tried coming to get her and she had no intentions of unlocking it with her two roommates there on the other side. "Seriously, you're blocking us out and you shouldn't be, it's going to hurt you more than you think!"

"Ignore her, she's clearly talking from the 'my parents were able to leave the country without incident' perspective and doesn't know what it's like to know the people who raised you are dead." That statement ignited a bout of bickering between the two, something that slowly left the area near the door, until Kjelle couldn't hear it any longer. In all that time she hadn't moved an inch off of her bed, where she'd been laying almost every moment since she'd gotten home after watching her parents be shot and killed. She couldn't remember how many days it actually had been, day and night meant nothing to her anymore, and she knew that she did need to leave the room eventually while other people were awake. So far, every time she'd gotten up had been when they weren't home or when they were asleep, and the loneliness she'd felt being the only one in the apartment was still overshadowed by the fact that all she could hear was the sound of the shots immediately before impact, the ringing a buzz in her head she couldn't shake no matter how hard she tried.

Just as she was about to drift back into a state of semi-consciousness with the ringing as her only company, the two at the door began speaking to her once more, both calling into the room to try getting her to respond. She hadn't heard her own voice since that afternoon, the last thing she'd said to anyone something along the lines of "blame me for what happened, this is my fault"—because to her, it _was_ her fault because they were out at her suggestion. The attack was far from an accident, the murders perfectly planned and executed, and the fact that they'd targeted her parents and left herself and the other young adult out with them unscathed showed that there was more to it than someone shooting out a window. She didn't want to hear herself talk again for a long time, not after her mouth had set up the plans to be downtown that day, to be crossing the street in broad daylight, with eyes watching them from up above.

"If you don't open the door today we're going to call someone to get it open for us," one of the two said, snapping Kjelle out of her thoughts and back to the reminder that she wasn't alone and wasn't going to be. "You're being ridiculous, I get that you're depressed and everything but what good is staying in there going to do you? None, that's what!"

"Gods, Severa, the longer you scold her for trying to cope the longer she's going to keep isolating herself. When I said ignore her before, I meant ignore her always, I hope you know that." Kjelle felt bad that they were still arguing over what to do about her, but it wasn't her fault that either of them felt so invested in getting her out of her room. "If you choose to come out sometime today it'd be for the best, there's some…things that have happened recently that you need to know about."

Mentally, Kjelle was preparing herself to hear about the world outside having fallen into more disarray than it had been the last time she was in it, but physically she remained on her bed, laying completely still with zero intentions of moving. "Sure, that's how you're going to break it to her, way to go Lucy, you've really done it this time." Severa must've been rolling her eyes on the other side of the door, judging by how annoyed she sounded. "Bet she's in there thinking that one of our friends got killed this time."

"I'm sure she's noticed that they're not targeting anyone of our generation, only our parents," Lucina replied, her voice steady even with the heavy subject matter she was approaching. "And I'm sure she can guess that what she needs to hear involves more murders. More deaths. More people we've lost because of the Grimleal, not because of any decision any single one of us made. It's not like we asked to be born to who we were."

"That's what we want to go around saying, that this is all our parents' faults for deciding to be the people they chose to be. Because that definitely doesn't make it totally obvious that we're related to the people they're specifically murdering." Severa's huff at the end of her sentence showed that she wasn't thrilled with what they were talking about, and thankfully that led to the two leaving the other side of the door. Once she knew they weren't there any longer, Kjelle let out a long-held breath, her whole body feeling like it was losing tension as she exhaled. This was stressful and draining, and it wasn't helping matters that she was blaming herself for what had happened to her parents.

This all stemmed from one specific murder that had happened six months prior, which had been the attack on the Exalt by the very woman he'd married, who'd defected to the Grimleal and had been plotting the killing for some long amount of time. From there, with her allies marching into Ylisstol and taking the country's political realm hostage, living in the country became a dangerous game for anyone who'd been close with the now-dead Exalt and his family. Murders became commonplace, people with ties to him getting shot in broad daylight with no one batting an eyelash at the incidents, and for the children of these people every day became a battle that they had to fight.

That was why going out that afternoon had been so dangerous, and why Kjelle blamed herself so much for what had ended up happening to her parents. Her mother had known there was a target on her back and that she needed to be careful, and this knowledge was shared with the family, yet they'd still gone out and ended up facing the exact situation that they knew was going to happen. She was parentless because of that decision, and now she was part of the majority of her friends to not have family left alive.

Closing her eyes, she sighed again, before deciding right then that the time to grieve in private was over, and that her battles were now going to be alongside her friends once more. Lucina didn't have either of her parents left—well, technically her mother was still alive but as she was the murderer of the Exalt, she wasn't exactly someone they wanted to associate with further—and Severa's had both fled to try and escape Ylisstol after the same murders that had sent Kjelle into her current state. As far as she knew, nothing negative had been sent back about them being killed in transit, so of the three of them in their home, two had no parents and one had both, which wasn't exactly a pleasant statistic to think about.

What would her mother have thought about her laying around in her room, feeling sorry for herself for what had happened? She'd be yelling at her to get out there and kick everyone's asses for making her feel bad, because there was nothing she'd accomplish by being upset like she was, and honestly those were words that she felt she needed to hear in that moment. She was a fighter, she was strong-willed and ready to bash heads whenever needed, and she was going to stand tall and proud in the wake of tragedy and make sure that nothing further was going to happen to anyone else she knew.

* * *

Lucina's way of introducing her to all of the issues that had developed in the days since her parents had been killed was to take her to a meeting with a bunch of other young people, both in their social circle and not. "They're all people our age whose parents have died or left over this nonsense," she explained as they stood outside on a dark front step, the building in front of them looking to be some kind of church. "That, or they're old friends of mine from their parents knowing my father." She had already knocked on the door, and they were waiting to be let in, but the expectant glance she was giving the door made Kjelle wonder if she was certain she knew what was going to be on the other side.

The kind face of an older man was what greeted them, welcoming Lucina and Severa both by name before looking at Kjelle, lips pursed together in thought. She was giving him a once-over to judge who this might've been, noting that if she hadn't heard him speak she might've been able to confuse him as a woman, but she was tugged inside by her friends before any conversation happened. They heard the door close behind them and the man disappear somewhere else in the building as they ran through halls, entering a crowded meeting area that must have, at one point, been a classroom there in the church. "Sorry we ran late tonight, we finally dragged a certain someone out of her room," Severa said to everyone, as they were all either murmuring things about their appearance, or choking out sobs and cries over something. "She was being more difficult than you'd believe."

"To be fair, she's recently lost both her parents, so don't blame her for hiding herself away until she was ready to come out." Lucina was looking around the room, her eyes locking with as many other pairs as possible, before she landed on someone who was heavily crying. "Gods, has she stopped since the news came through? Has someone been with her at all times? The last thing we need is to lose Noire on top of everything else!"

"Yes, _mother_ , there's been someone with her at all times," one of the boys replied, someone that Kjelle wasn't familiar with but assumed that Lucina knew through other means than their group of parents. "And it's been horrendous, she refuses to let any of us share her bed to keep her company when the night terrors hit."

Another boy, one that Kjelle knew to be Lucina's little brother, shook his head in response to what had been said. "He's been staying with me and Owain this whole time, I don't know why he's saying that."

"Morgan's correct, Inigo hasn't set foot anywhere near Noire until he showed up here today," yet another boy added, nodding towards Lucina to show that he meant business. "Sorry that he can't keep his mouth closed for five seconds when it comes to cracking jokes like that, but it would be best if you knew the truth of the matter."

"Thank you for your honesty, Gerome, I appreciate it." Sitting down next to her brother and giving him a high-five once she was on the ground, Lucina turned back to look at the two ladies she'd brought with her, motioning for them both to join her. "Come on, Morgan saved us spots like a good kid, we've got to take advantage of it before the room fills up."

With the loud crying that wasn't stopping, Kjelle wasn't sure if she wanted to stay in there for very long or not, but Severa tugged on her arm to get her to move to where they were being asked to sit. There were so many people in there that she knew, whether from having gone to school with them or having been to events that they were at because of their parents, but there were still some that she didn't know, like Inigo and Gerome, both of whom seemed comfortable being where they now were. She didn't care too much about there being strangers present, especially as Lucina knew them and she was the one that had the arguably largest target on her back, being the eldest child of the former Exalt. At the same time, however, she did feel like knowing what everyone else's deal was, when it came to the people she didn't know, would make being there a bit easier.

Thankfully, Lucina was already on top of that, and once the last couple people filed into the room she began to speak to the group, glancing towards the hallway they'd entered from just to make sure no one unexpected was joining them. "Okay, everyone, I know it's been a rough few days in terms of killings, but we're all still here and that's what matters above all. They haven't changed course and began killing us, thank Naga, but it still hurts losing the people we care about most. Let's go over the big issues of the past week, just to remind everyone of who they need to be careful around."

"Noire, obviously, should be where we start," Severa said, propping her head up on her fist while she leaned forward, elbow resting on the ground. "I know we've heard a bit of the story, but maybe she'll know more about what happened. How'd they manage to take out two people who were trying to legally leave? They weren't doing anything wrong going to a country one of them lived in."

There was trepidation in her voice, knowing that the answer she got was not just answering the question she'd asked, but rather one close to her own heart: her parents had done much like Noire's parents had, trying to go to a country where one of them had previously lived. "I don't know what happened," Noire sobbed, trying to keep her voice steady enough to be understood by all who were listening. "All I know is that we got pictures of what they'd done, of what they'd…of how they'd…" She broke down into gasping cries, unable to make any other words come out to finish explaining her story.

"The pictures were gruesome, but not unexpected given the Grimleal's tendency to want to kill our parents in ways we can witness," Gerome added, his hand awkwardly patting Noire's back to try calming her. "When they sent me the photos of my parents' execution scene, I thought it was due to where they'd returned to, not who they'd tried fleeing from, but Noire receiving similarly disturbing pictures tells me that this is all their doing."

"Can we please stop talking about seeing our parents dying?" Morgan's voice asked, loud over the other sounds in the room. "I still have nightmares about hearing Father being killed, I can't imagine what it'd be like to have to _see_ any of it."

The silence that came over everyone, minus Noire and her crying, was stunned more than anything, as they all turned to look at the boy who'd just shocked them all with his slightly foot-in-mouth statement. "You realize that most everyone here has watched a parent die, whether from the Grimleal or from other causes," Lucina told her brother, making him shift uncomfortably and start trying to explain his reasoning. "No, no, I know why you said what you said and I agree, hearing the fatal shots was bad enough that I wouldn't dare dream of what watching it would've been like, but we need to be respectful of everyone else here."

That was when Kjelle found herself looking around the room, mentally going over what she knew about everyone's parent situation. Lucina and Morgan were obvious ones, as was Severa, and she knew her own better than anything. Gerome and Noire had both had theirs brought out into the open, them both being in the same category as her with neither parent being alive; she didn't know Inigo and could only guess that he was missing one or both of his parents as well. Lucina's cousin Owain, who had moved away from Morgan after what he'd said and was talking with some of the other guys, had both of his parents alive at the moment—notable, as his mother had been ruling in the place of the Exalt while everyone tried to figure out how to proceed. One of the boys he was talking with looked stone-faced yet on the verge of tears, and she could only guess that he had recently lost a parent, while the other seemed bored and rather detached from what was going on.

Next to them, directly across the circle from where she was sitting, was another boy, this one looking nervous about where he was but not too upset about anything. Kjelle didn't remember his name, but she knew she'd met him a time or two before when meeting with some of her classmates, and she was aware that he'd lost his mother before anything had happened involving the Grimleal, but she didn't know about his father. Skipping over to right on the other side of where she was sitting, the last two people she hadn't mentally gone over were in the middle of their own conversation. She knew that Nah, the small, childlike one of the two was missing both of her parents, although it wasn't ever certain that her father had died because no body had ever been found, and she'd taken the deaths rather well, not letting them bother her too much once the grieving process had ended. The other person, however, made Kjelle's heart pang to see, because Cynthia had been out with her the day her parents had been shot, and her mother had lost her life in that moment as well. They hadn't actually seen each other since that afternoon and she didn't know what she was going to say if, or when, Cynthia noticed that she was there.

"Now that that's taken care of, we have something to take care of that's been needed for days now but not everyone's been here to help with it." Lucina was standing up, looking around at everyone as she stood in the center of the circle. "We're going to pair up, to make sure that we always have a buddy or two to keep us in check when we need the support."

She was pulling a list out of her pocket, so that she could make sure she named off everyone while going through her pairs, and Kjelle thought it was rather pointless to have done that when everyone naturally was grouped together, more or less. "You two already keep me in check, so what's the big deal with this?" she asked Severa, who snickered at the question. That wasn't the reaction she'd expected, and she pushed her friend's shoulder in surprise to try and get a better reaction. "Come on, seriously? We live together, we're friends until the end, remember all of that?"

"You'll see why I'm not telling you you're right here soon enough," Severa replied, rolling with the pushes Kjelle was giving her. "Lucy thinks there's a better way to keep you and your recent depressive moments in check that doesn't involve either of us. Do I think it'll work? Not exactly, not when you barely listened to us before this, but we're gonna play with it as long as we can."

"That's not what I want to hear. Why can't you just override whatever she's going to say to make sure I'm with you both?" Still pushing Severa's shoulders, slowly gaining more force with every push, Kjelle found herself stopping on a dime when she saw Lucina pointing a finger across the room at the boy in tears that Owain and his group had been hanging around. She watched as that finger turned, becoming a motion to beckon him towards her, and he rose to his feet, towering over everyone still seated as he walked across the room.

Thoughts of wondering what was up with this guy and why he was so special as to get called out like he was were crossing Kjelle's mind, and she so badly wanted to ask what the deal was, but Severa shook her head without a word. "Since I know we have some special friends in this room, we're going to have to get creative." Once the guy had gotten to right next to Lucina, her gently patting his arm as he tearfully nodded at her, almost as if he knew what she was about to say, she looked around the room once more, everyone silent as they waited for what she was going to do. "Thirteen of us means that there's got to be a group of three, and Severa and I decided that it would be smartest and safest if we were the group with the extra person, particularly when he's someone who needs some extra care."

"Excuse me, Lucy, but what about me?" Morgan asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over everyone else as they watched her move from just patting the guy's arm to giving him a one-armed hug. "Doesn't 'little brother' matter more than whatever's made you want to stick around with him?"

The apologetic look that crossed Lucina's face as she was met with that question lingered for a second, as she pushed away from the guy she'd been hugging to walk towards her brother. "I know that we _should_ be together, but it'd make it too easy to get us both if any of those Grimleal losers wanted to come after us and we were constantly together. Sure, putting you with Owain isn't exactly…ideal, but you already live with him! It's not much of a change for either of you!" Her face brightened up even as her brother's remained dark with consideration, and it took being tackled into the ground by his cousin for him to finally go along with what Lucina was suggesting.

"Okay, seriously, why are the two of you going to have this guy with you, rather than the person you currently live with?" Kjelle was back to looking for answers from Severa, who was shrugging it off as if nothing strange had been said. "You're not kicking me out, are you? What in Naga's name did I do wrong to either of you?"

Severa shook her head, as if the one gesture would be enough to clear the air between them. "You didn't do anything wrong, and we're not kicking you out but you're probably safer not living at the house anymore anyway, now that Lucy's going through with starting this. We're taking Brady on because he's a huge crybaby who can't hide the fact that he's bothered that his dad was murdered in front of him. At least you don't cry at the mention of your parents being dead."

"Yeah, sure, that's a great reason for whatever you have going on here." While she had no reason to doubt what her friend had just told her, something wasn't sitting right within Kjelle's mind, and she wasn't going to let the subject drop until she had a solid answer to what was happening. Rather than continue trying to argue answers out of Severa, she decided to sit back and watch everything unfold for just a moment, just in case something that happened answered what she wanted to know.

But it seemed Lucina knew she was expecting answers, because her name was the last one that was brought up in the whole conversation. It came after she'd pointed over at Inigo, then towards Cynthia, an arrangement that neither of them seemed to mind, based on how they moved to sit with each other and began whisper-talking immediately. Next was Gerome and Nah, both of whom looked at each other and gave a silent nod, not moving any closer to one another even now that they were meant to be partners. It was at that point that Kjelle realized she didn't want to get burdened with taking care of Noire's emotional train-wreck of a mental state, but she also didn't know either of the guys that were left very well.

She had to put her faith in Lucina's leadership and decision-making skills in that moment, and whatever came next was assumed to be best for her. Noire was the one pointed at next, followed by a pensive look at the remaining people, before Lucina's finger landed in the direction of the nervous boy, who jumped when he saw he was being pointed at. He glanced at Noire as she cried out something that no one could quite understand, and looked like he wanted to rebuke what he'd just been dealt, but he gave a resigned sigh and moved to sit with her. "Thanks for understanding that I couldn't take the easy route out and put her with someone she's too close with, Yarne," Lucina said to the boy, him sighing once more as a response to her thank you. "Don't worry, once she gets over their deaths I think she'll appreciate having your strength in her life."

Without waiting for him to respond further, she pointed at the last boy waiting for assignment, the one who seemed bored with the entire ordeal. "While I am impressed you chose not to saddle me with the over-dramatic one, did you have to choose someone I have yet to be acquainted with?" he asked, raising an eyebrow over the rim of his glasses as he stared Lucina down. "Seems as if it's a bit of lazy planning on your part."

"Don't worry, you and Kjelle will get to know each other pretty well, now that she's actually out of her room and here with us." That was when Lucina turned to look at her, and Kjelle found herself unsure of how she was supposed to feel about what she'd just been thrown into. She'd been under the impression that this meeting was a gathering with friends to know what had been going on, not forcing her to become friends with some stranger. "We think that Laurent would be best for you to bounce off of, because…" Lucina's voice trailed off as she saw him standing up from the corner of her eye, something that Kjelle also saw. "Well, because he's in the best position out of all of us, if we're being honest. You'll find that he'll keep you grounded when you need it most."

"Then pair him off with Noire, she needs the grounding more," Kjelle spat, shifting her glare between Lucina and Severa for a moment before she felt a slender hand touch her, something that she instinctively slapped away. As she turned to see who'd just earned her wrath, she saw that glasses-wearing face giving her the same bored look the entire group gathering had earned. "You touch me again and you might not have any working fingers left on that hand."

"I must ask you to refrain from speaking to me as such," Laurent replied, not sounding angered by what she'd said but definitely not sounding as bored as he looked. "I'm merely attempting to play nice here, to do what's being expected of us in the moment. Will you step down from your self-provided pedestal and speak to me on my level?"

"That'd be a good idea, you should do that." Giving a small, proud nod at what she'd just heard, Lucina gave a pleading look towards Kjelle to try and get her to play along, before turning her focus to Laurent. "Take her somewhere private to speak with her, we'll all be splitting up to get to know our new partner better in a moment anyway."

"Ah yes, somewhere private with a woman I don't know. That's the position I'd love for my father to walk in on me being part of. Can you imagine the outrage?" The tone that Laurent spoke with was rubbing Kjelle the wrong way, but she felt her stubbornness and reluctance to participate had already caused enough problems, she couldn't keep fighting the fight she'd been trying to pick. "Make sure no one takes refuge in my father's room, he may have their head as well as mine if that happens."

"Don't worry about what they do, we'll handle it." Waving them off as she went to deal with the rest of the people gathered their in the church, Lucina didn't seem to notice or care that Laurent was muttering at her under his breath after she'd turned away. Whatever it was that she was talking about must've been so important that making sure everyone else involved was cool with what she was doing didn't actually matter. That was what Kjelle had to deal with as she was forced to follow him out of the room, her annoyed look back at her friends ignored completely.

She had no idea what they were going to be expected to do while they were gone, but all she knew about this guy was that he didn't seem to enjoy being bossed around by Lucina, and that his father seemed to be the gentleman that had let them into the church in the first place. "Are you going to, I don't know, tell me anything about yourself before we're somewhere in this building no one else will ever find us?" she asked, following his footsteps with ease even as he tried walking quickly through the halls. "How do I know you're not going to snap and murder me on the spot?"

"No one warned me that you were a cautious and obnoxious person, I should have been given that information in advance." Slowing to a stop, Laurent turned around to face Kjelle, finding that they were just about at eye level with each other, making it hard for him to intimidate her given that he was a scrawny thing and she was dedicated to her physical strength. "I assumed that, given your muscular build, you might have a bit of courage within you, but it seems I was mistaken."

"What kind of nonsense are you spewing? I'm plenty courageous, I'm just…rightfully worried that I'll die if I follow you into the depths of this place." It wasn't that she felt he really would kill her, but rather that he would take her somewhere that death was a probable thing. Speaking with a biting tone, she explained, "I barely know your name, let alone anything about you, and I had to watch both my parents get shot down before my eyes, I have every reason to be cautious right now."

The uncomfortable shift he made as he stood there, listening to her speak, was only made more awkward as he hurried to turn around and continue walking. "That's a fair point, forgive me for forgetting that strong people do carry burdens on their hearts at times. I was young when my mother met her end, and as my father still lives I have no real reference point to understand your pain at. Perhaps that's the reason why Lucina felt it necessary to pair us two complete strangers up?"

Something that Lucina had said before rang through Kjelle's mind—that Laurent was in the best position out of all of them—and she nodded in response to what he'd just suggested. "I think that might be it, now that I think about it. She doesn't care that we don't know each other, she cares that you haven't lost a parent due to this bullshit and I've lost both of mine, and because of that we're a good match."

"Precisely my thinking, excellent work coming to that conclusion as well." They'd reached the end of a hallway in their travels, Laurent having come to a complete stop as he was working to unlock the door on one side of the hall. "You'll have to excuse me, I've not gotten into this room since I was a child so whatever's on the other side may or may not be suitable for either of us to see, but when I think of 'private and quiet place to connect', I do not think of my own bedroom. Rather, my mind went straight to my mother's former laboratory, last entered not long after her passing."

"We're going to enter a dead woman's room?" Kjelle was asking to clarify, but the over-the-glasses look she received in return as the door came open answered the question for her. She followed Laurent into the dark room, but before she had the chance to comment on the fact that it was pitch-black in there, she heard him open what sounded like a book, followed by a low muttering of some chant or incantation, only for a bright flame to spark on a large candle in the center of the room. It took a moment for her mind to catch up with what had just happened, and she could only manage to say one thing in response: "You…you just performed magic?"

"Mages do exist in this world, whether people want to believe it or not," he told her, slamming the book shut and tucking it back into the pocket of the jacket he was wearing. "I was lucky to be born to two parents who both had magical inclinations, and while my father has always chosen not to rely on his, my mother dedicated her life to hers. This was where she carried out her experiments in private, as to not be caught performing magic by those who'd choose to criminalize her acts."

Still in awe at what had happened, especially as the flame lighting the room seemed so natural, as if it had been created by a match or lighter, not out of thin air through magic, Kjelle used the new light to look around at everything that the room had to offer. It was a lot of books, dusty tomes that she was certain contained spells that would look like foreign print to her untrained eyes, as well as a bunch of scientific-looking machines that hadn't been touched in over a decade, judging by the layer of dust on them. "Does everyone else know that this place exists? Or, better question, do they know that you're a mage?"

"They have their suspicions about my magical nature, but Lucina is fully aware of my background and trusts me despite it. Not all mages are part of the Grimleal, even though they are doing a great job at letting that incorrect assumption linger in the public mindset, using guns to take down their enemies to ease suspicion on their forces." Closing the door to the room now that there was ample light inside, Laurent pulled out a chair that clearly hadn't been sat in since the last time the lab was occupied, and began rubbing at his eyes with his hands, pushing his glasses up to his forehead. "The ones who are most suspicious are those with mage parents, I will admit. They know the tricks someone who uses magic in everyday life will use to keep their prowess hidden from the public."

For a moment, Kjelle was going to accuse him of lying to her, to try and make himself seem more interesting than he was, but she'd witnessed him illuminate the room with nothing but a book; if she doubted him, she was clearly ignorant for doing so. "We aren't here to talk about mage parents though, are we?" she reminded him, pacing around the lab and being careful not to touch anything. "We're here to get to know each other and then figure out what we're going to do about this whole situation. Wouldn't you being a mage paint a target on your back?"

"As much of a target as being the child of a priest would be, I'm sure. I'm harmless in the grand scheme of things, my parent with the ties to the Shepherds died long before the Shepherds were the public enemy." He was speaking of the group that had surrounded the Exalt by their professional name, a term that had been pushed aside when it was clear they were beginning to be murdered for their connections. "However, you are correct that if the general population knew I was a mage, they would immediately distrust me, although considering it a target may be incorrect."

"So don't go around running my mouth that you can do magic, got it." For that being the third thing she knew about this guy (behind his name and that he had a dead mother), Kjelle was impressed at how much she'd already learned—and she was further impressed as they dove deeper into who they were and why they were in their current position. She wasn't sure if this was what Lucina had actually intended for them to do with their time, but they spent a long while just talking about what they did for themselves, how they'd grown up, what things they liked, the basic getting to know someone stuff. He was just as interested in the sciences and how magic could play a role in them as he knew his mother had been, and that meshed well with her desire to be the strongest person she knew, just like her own mother had wanted to be.

They were from different walks of life, him being the son of a priest and a mage and her being the daughter of a mercenary and a member of the Exalt's personal entourage, but they had a connection by one of their parents each being part of the Shepherds banner. There wasn't much more that they had in common, aside from age and a mutual friend in Lucina, but by the time Laurent decided they could go rejoin the rest of the group if they were still around, they both felt like they had a better understanding of the other. This was important, they found out, as the group had mostly disbanded for the day but Lucina was still there waiting, speaking with Laurent's father in the room they'd initially gathered in.

"Father, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be keeping an eye out for trespassers or people here to harm the church?" Laurent asked when they entered the room, watching his father turn to face him with a gentle smile. "You're potentially putting all the kind souls who reside in other parts of the building in grave danger."

"Calm your fears, child, everything will be okay as long as we are within these walls." The way he spoke was just as kind as the expression he gave, and with those words it was obvious that Laurent was going to believe whatever it was his father told him. "Lucina and I have just been speaking about her plans for what shall be done regarding living arrangements. It isn't safe to have all you children spread out across town any longer, and as this church has Naga's protection we've decided it has become time to open our doors for one more."

Lucina nodded as she listened to the explanation of the conversation she'd just been having, her eyes locking onto Kjelle in specific. "When we were drafting the partnerships, we figured that whoever was paired with Laurent would be given the safety that this church provides. Making it you, Kjelle, means that your room is opened up for someone else to take, and so the distance between everyone shrinks slightly, and shrinks more once everyone else rearranges how they're living. Mister Libra here has been more than understanding of this and has accepted the idea with open arms, thank everything."

"You are kicking me out after all, and for what? Living with a relative stranger?" Her words spoken under her breath, Kjelle couldn't bring herself to look at the person still staring at her, nor could she look at Laurent or his father. Yes, living in a church meant that she wouldn't need to fear meeting a gruesome fate, but at the same time it meant sharing close quarters with people she didn't really know. Accepting this lying down wasn't something she wanted to do, but she knew that her friends really thought this was going to be best for her. "I…suppose I can make it work, if you need me to."

"Severa's already in the process of packing up your things, we'll have them by later in the evening for you so you can stay right where you are. Having as few of us out on the streets as possible is key to survival right now." What Lucina said was cryptic, but she sounded confident in every word she spoke, and it was hard to question her when she seemed to know exactly what she was doing. "Apologies that this has all happened on such short notice, but we've been building up to this since the day of their murder and you've just now been let in on the plans."

Taking the time to show emotions as she'd processed a great tragedy had directly impacted how her life was going, and Kjelle couldn't do anything about it without looking ungrateful for having a support group that wanted the best for her. "I apologize for not informing you I knew of this plan before I even knew who you were," Laurent admitted, reaching to brush a hand against Kjelle's arm but watching her jerk away, visibly flinching at his attempt. "Please, whatever negative feelings you have for this, take them out now so they do not harm everything going forward. We cannot afford distractions."

"If a strong woman having feelings is considered a distraction, I hope that I can distract you every day for as long as this goes on," she snapped in response, looking directly at him as she let her voice raise in volume. "I'm not a 'distraction' because I'm dealing with things no one should have to handle!"

"You are correct, you're not a distraction for that reason," he conceded, shifting where he stood as he grabbed the bottom of his jacket and pulled it downward. "But something tells me that other traits of yours, particularly your loud voice and your aggressive nature, could become distracting to myself and those around me." It took days of her being angered by him saying that for her to realize that he wasn't exactly meaning that in a rude way, but by the time she'd caught on to the fact that _he_ was distracted whenever she became brash with him she'd been doing it multiple times a day and thought he was disappearing because he was annoyed with her. Once she'd realized the truth, that he was attracted to that behavior of all things, she made sure to try toning it down for his sake, especially when it came time to be around everyone else again.

* * *

The first group gathering after the living arrangements had been changed (a swap that happened after dark, when the Grimleal were less likely to notice something happening under their noses), everyone was sitting with their partner in the open room of the church, sitting in silence that was strangely not being interrupted by crying. Libra was standing at one entrance to the room, watching over the thirteen young adults with a caring eye, although his ear was turned towards where the front door to the church was, as if he was expecting something to go awry.

At least, that was the impression his presence gave Kjelle, who'd now spent a week under his roof and knew that he was rarely ever around during the day, as he was tending to all of his duties there at the church. "Don't you think it's weird that your dad's still in here?" she asked Laurent with a whisper, him shaking his head in response. "Really? I would've figured that he'd be in the orphan house or maybe in a prayer room, not in here."

"He's keeping watch, which means something's happened that we aren't yet aware of. I figure we will know what has occurred here in moments." Without even looking in his father's direction, Laurent seemed to know what was going on, and Kjelle had no choice but to put faith in his words. He could tell that she wasn't completely convinced, so he added, "He did this the day your parents were gunned down, he stood by the door until he heard something outdoors, then—"'

"Turn on the screen, now, my dear Lucina," Libra's voice called out, interrupting his son as well as anyone else who might've been speaking at that moment. "The rally cry in the streets has begun, there's been another development in this dreadful occupation."

Exhaling a breath that she'd been holding in as long as she'd been waiting to hear those words, Lucina turned on a television screen that was attached to one of the walls in the room, while Severa, stationed across the room, turned out the lights. It took a few moments for the screen to come on, as it was searching for the encrypted signal that the church tapped into so that anyone inside could watch something without chance of being spied on, but when it connected they were all greeted with the image of the Grimleal's insignia, the sight of it making nearly everyone flinch. "Here we go," Lucina muttered, stepping back so she could get a better view. "Time to see if what we've feared has come to pass."

Typically, these broadcasts began with an announcer welcoming everyone to the news, but this one started differently, the insignia fading out as a large group picture slowly came into focus. At first, it was impossible to make out anyone in the image, but as it focused in further, the people in the room all began gasping or crying out. "We're so glad you have joined us today, people of Ylisse," the normal announcer said, "because we of the Grimleal are moving into our final position to assume total control."

The picture that they were speaking over was old enough that none of the young adults had been alive when it was taken, but the majority of them recognized someone within it. In full and vibrant color, the broadcast had chosen to put the promotional image for the Shepherds on the screen, forcing them to stare their parents down when most of them were dead. "It started with the forced execution of the former Exalt Emmeryn and her closest allies." As the announcer spoke, the picture zoomed in on the graceful woman standing at the center of them all, her face serene and blissful as she was surrounded by people she trusted, only for her image to go grayscale. "Then, six months ago, Exalt Chrom was murdered at our hands."

With Lucina and Morgan both taking in sharp breaths at the sight, the image focused on their father in color for a moment, before giving him the same treatment his sister had received. With the two Exalts (as well as various guards on the sides, as well as one individual in the image who'd died without Grimleal involvement) now grayed out, the image went back to filling the screen as the voice continued explaining what was happening. "At this point, the takeover began, and our troops moved into the great city of Ylisstol to stake our claim on the people. But in order to leave our mark, we had to rid the city of the so-called great Shepherds."

They crossed the screen in a flash, going from their bright colors to the same gray that Emmeryn and Chrom had been turned into, and with each one someone else reacted with a cry or a shout. Severa's mother. Nah's father. Brady's father. Kjelle's mother. Cynthia's mother. Noire's father. All of them, having their life stripped away from them on the screen that so many in Ylisse were watching without really caring about who these people were. "With numbers quickly dwindling, as well as one of their own having taken the helm as interim Exalt," the voice continued, sounding smug as it focused on a small group at the front of the picture, Owain's loud gasp almost drowning out the rest of the sounds everyone made (which did include Brady crying and Yarne asking "are you being serious?"), "but the remaining Shepherds knew that she was in danger in that position."

The screen went dark for a second, before restoring the image, everyone who was dead in gray while four individuals were now painted with a red tint to them. The crying started to get louder, but the voice on the television was still loud enough to be heard saying, "Four hostages have been taken today as a bartering device. They've come of their own volition and dedication to their Exalt, trading their lives for hers. What foolish dedication to a pointless position, offering to die for someone who's head is already to be ours!"

"Make it stop, please!" Owain shouted, jumping to his feet and shaking as he leaned towards the screen. "Not all of them, not for my mother!" He had to be pulled back down to seated, but his anger was tangible and everyone could feel it in their hearts. The anger, and the distraught sadness the other two who just found out their living parent had offered themselves as a sacrifice, were what motivated them to continue watching, to continue listening to what was going on.

"We won't hurt a hair on their heads if the rebellion we know is brewing underfoot ceases activity, as well as if the Exalt steps aside on her own terms. The time for senseless killing is over, allow us to have what we want without further bloodshed." That was where the broadcast stopped, not because of the Grimleal ending it but rather because power had been lost to the church. Everyone screamed as they found themselves unexpectedly in the dark, and without thinking too much of it Laurent pulled out his pocket tome and cast a bit of fire magic to where he knew candles hung on the walls. As they came to life, dimly lighting the room, he worked quickly to tuck his tome away once more, so no one would suspect what he had done.

"There's a Grimleal among us, they're letting them know what we're doing and they're gloating through casting magic!" Noire shouted in accusation. "Whoever it is, admit to it right now, or face my wrath!"

"You dumbass, your mother was a Plegian mage, for all we know it's you doing it!" Severa yelled back, before grabbing her long pigtails in frustration. "But we don't have time to think about there being a traitor here, they killed my parents! I knew they shouldn't have tried escaping to Ferox, they died by being cowards!" Her voice was becoming shrill, as she worked herself up into a panic caused by seeing that broadcast and what news it delivered to her. "My parents wanted to escape to try helping all of us, and all they ended up doing was getting themselves killed! Now I…now they…"

"Breathe, Severa, I know what you're trying to say but there's no way it'll be of any help to us if you're screaming about it." Lucina was trying to stay calm, but hearing her girlfriend getting into such a state was making her quickly lose her control, especially when she could see everyone else in the room was feeling quite bothered as well. "Here, let's just step back and look at this all rationally, shall we?"

Despite everyone being emotionally distraught, Lucina managed to get them all sitting in the middle of the barely-lit room, her standing behind Severa to keep her down in case she tried jumping up and causing trouble. From there, she directed them all in a discussion about what they'd just been shown, and what it meant for what they were trying to do. Their group was now labeled as a rebellion, despite just being a group of young adults trying to cope with the destruction occurring all around them, and something needed to be done about it. "But Lucy, if we do anything, that could mean more people dying," Morgan quietly said, his head tilting backwards to look at his sister where she stood. "People we know and like."

"I know this, Morgan, I really do, but I don't think that they'll be so senseless as to murder four people as a spectacle. That just shows the public that they need to worry, something they've been trying to prevent so far." Closing her eyes as she thought about the faces she'd seen on the screen, Lucina mumbled, "I just can't believe they offered themselves up. Have they no care for their children?"

"I think it's their care for us that…made them make that choice. At least, I know that to be true for my dad, but I think it's the same for them too." His hands fidgeting as he spoke, Yarne was having a hard time looking anywhere but at the floor in front of him, but this was the first time he'd had to deal with a parent being in grave danger at the hands of the Grimleal. Everyone knew that he'd been present for his mother being shot down long beforehand, but she'd done that to protect him from someone trying to get him in specific, and that encounter had given him the strength to understand why a parent would sacrifice themselves. "My dad won't let his friend get killed for something stupid, he'll protect her until the end!"

"Same with Ma, she'll do whatever she can to keep her best friend safe. If that means dyin' for it, she'll do it." Already shell-shocked about his father's relatively recent murder, the fact that Brady had been able to calm down enough to speak without his words being lost to tears was a miracle, but he wasn't speaking with a steady voice. "I just hope it ain't gonna come to that, I'm not ready to have neither of my parents around."

The last point he'd made struck a nerve within Kjelle, as she knew she hadn't been ready for that moment either when it had happened to her. Looking around at everyone, she thought about the others who'd lost both parents at once and figured they felt the same way she did, about how _lucky_ the rest were to have had some time with one of their parents before they were lost as well. But that wasn't an appropriate thought to be having in such a situation, even if she didn't regret having it. "You look deep in thought about something," Laurent pointed out, his hand inside his jacket pocket holding tightly to the tome he'd whipped out before. "Mind telling me what it is, or will you keep me in the dark?"

"I'll keep you just as much in the dark as you should've kept the rest of us," she replied, her words barely more than breaths just so she wouldn't be overheard. "You could've gotten yourself into a lot of trouble with that."

"Ahem, I hate to interrupt your discussion over there, but forces are headed this way." Libra's announcement reminded everyone that he was still standing guard by the door, but his words were enough to get them all screaming, rising to their feet and scrambling to hide just in case the Grimleal had found where they were located. Even with the commotion, he was able to raise his voice loud enough to pass a message off to his son, who was already leading Kjelle out of the room without a second thought. "Laurent, take them into the lab and lock the door every way you know how, I will release you when the time comes."

All eyes turned to find where he was, and he was frozen standing in the doorway, Kjelle having an outstretched arm that he'd taken hold of. "Everyone, this way, follow me if you want to heed my father's advice," he said, and as he heard footsteps approaching him, he did what felt natural and continued walking, pulling her along with him. To help keep people together, she reached out to who was directly behind her, feeling a calloused hand that sent shivers down her spine to touch.

"Don't worry, I know that it's you I'm following behind," Cynthia's bright voice said, squeezing Kjelle's hand tightly. "We haven't really talked since…that day, I know, but it's okay! We're all good! We're alive and we're going to survive this together!"

As much as Kjelle wanted to focus on that positive, there was the obvious negative that she was still dwelling on. "Your mother wouldn't be dead if it weren't for me, and maybe you'd still have both parents alive." She knew that Cynthia's father was still alive, having used magic to disguise himself as a member of the Grimleal during the day to keep himself from being targeted due to a connection with one of the Shepherds. She knew that if he'd known what was going to happen, he'd have used the same spell to disguise his wife as well, but he hadn't known that she was going to go out that day. "But you're right, we're alive and we're good and we're going to survive as long as we keep going."

They were making a human chain, led by Laurent down the pitch-black hall to the room he'd unlocked for the first time not that long before. Upon reaching it, he didn't have to pull out his keys to get it open, as a simple press on the aged wood was enough to get it to creak open enough for them to all file into the deep darkness, the lab feeling like it had even less light than the rest of the building did. Before anyone had a chance to comment on it, he'd taken out his tome and cast a spell at the large candle in the middle, bringing light to them all as it grew and spread around the room. "Please refrain from touching anything while in here, most of it could still have magic radiating through it and—"

"This isn't just a normal science lab, is it?" someone asked in a whisper, and it took a bit of searching to find that it had been Nah, her hands covering her mouth as she'd spoken, who'd said the words. "I mean, if things in here might have magic in them, it can't be. Scientists don't use magic, they use science."

"—my mother happened to use both, thank you very much, and she would be hurt to hear someone make such an ignorant statement in her preferred place to work." Looping around the lab after everyone had entered, Laurent closed the door tightly behind all of them, before leaning in towards the doorknob, keys in one hand and the faintest glow of magic coming off the other. "This room is where I've felt the strongest pull of energy in my life, it's breathtaking how much I feel I can accomplish being in here."

"I'm going to step in right here," Lucina said, her arms wrapped around Severa as she still seemed upset about what had happened moments before, "and remind everyone that not all mages are part of the Grimleal, no matter how much we might be inclined to believe that now." As she gave her reminder, she was looking towards Noire, who had been watching Laurent the moment he went to lock the door, her jaw dropping at his open usage of magic. "We're lucky that the church has a room like this where we can be locked inside without any trace of being in here. After all, that's why your mother created this lab, isn't it?"

"Indeed it was, she wanted somewhere to conduct her experiments without chance of someone anti-magic finding her." Backing up from the door, Laurent straightened up as he turned to face everyone. "You should not be too surprised, then, that it was I who cast the spell to illuminate the room before, as well as upon entering here. I've never been so reliant on magic before, and I must say, it's invigorating knowing that I can do it in front of you all without fear of judgment or accusation."

He was speaking to those who'd immediately jumped to their being a Grimleal spy amongst them when the meeting room had been lit up, and they all knew it. "My dad used magic sometimes whenever he wanted to get out of doing chores," Yarne said after a moment's thought, his voice shaking as he spoke. "And then the Grimleal took him in as a bartering tool for the Exalt's life, so he's definitely not one of them."

"I can say the same 'bout Ma, she hardly ever used what magic she knew but we all knew she had it," Brady added, sniffling afterward. "If she were one of the bad guys, we'd have all been toast long before this, she'd be such a scary mage to face."

"And we all know about my dad, especially those of you who've met him!" Cynthia seemed far too upbeat for the situation, but she coped with difficulty with a bright smile and this moment was no exception. "He's gone into hiding thanks to his magic, but Lucy knows where he is and how he's helping us as much as he can in his new life."

The last person to say anything on the matter was Noire, who only spoke because she could feel several pairs of eyes beginning to bore holes into her skin. "Please, we all know my mother knew magic and used it as much as she wanted. Probably why they killed her when they got the chance, because she wasn't afraid to cast spells at anyone who crossed her path. I just…overreacted when I realized someone among us was using magic like she did."

Laurent wasn't sure how he was supposed to react to all of these stories and comments, so he kept his mouth shut and instead allowed for Lucina to take control of the situation. As she started talking about what they needed to do next, he shuffled back to standing at Kjelle's side, keeping his hands inside his jacket and his arm barely brushing against hers. "Look, now everyone knows you're a mage and no one's trying to kill you," she said to him, nudging him with her shoulder. "For as big of a secret as you wanted that to be, everyone knowing it seems to have ended okay."

"It wasn't so much wanting it to be a secret as it was needing it to be. Chances are, the choice I made to use magic in the other room are the reason for the authorities checking on the place, but with Father there to greet them they'll leave him alone about it. As a priest he has so-called special rights to using magic." Laurent shook his head, nudging Kjelle right back as she looked to him with raised eyebrows. "We are not discussing this further in this moment, we need to listen to what Lucina has to share."

When they tuned back into what she was saying, they were immediately met with her dropping something on the whole group that she must have been saving for when everyone was paying attention: "We need to do something to let the Grimleal know that they cannot make us back down with mere threats. They won't kill with their names attached to it, not where everyone can see it, and so if we get back at them exactly as they've gotten to us, they cannot harm a hair on any of those hostages' heads."

"Are you sure that's what we should do, though?" Owain asked, sounding nervous because all parts of the situation impacted him in some way, whether it was his mother being the reason for the hostages or his father being one of them. "I like the idea of showing them we're not scared, but I don't want to tempt them into killing someone!"

"Hush, they won't kill anyone if this goes according to plan. We have several things we're trying to make happen, that we've been working on since the killings began ramping up, but until any of them work out we need to take drastic action." Inhaling deeply, Lucina glanced at all of their pairs of eyes focusing on her, believing in what she was telling them. "We're going to show them that this resistance has a name they can refer to us with, but no faces to remember us by. We're not going to lose Ylisse to some cold-hearted murderers."

There was a spark that filled the room as she spoke, raising everyone's spirits if even slightly just because of the power in her words. Feeling hopeful that things really were going to end up okay, Kjelle hit Laurent with her shoulder once more, and he returned the favor, before reaching to wrap an arm around her and pull her in tightly, whispering to her, "What was it you told me your mother said before death, that you needed to keep your nose out of trouble? What would she say if she saw you now, a body among the resistance?"

"I think she'd forgive me for not heeding her advice if it meant saving Ylisse," she replied, her mother's words racing through her head—and for the first time, they weren't followed by the silencing ringing that had cut them short when they'd originally been spoken.

* * *

It took a couple weeks of living completely under the radar before anything else happened, due to the initial fear that visit by the authorities had given everyone. While it had been harmless and Libra's presence had done its job well, getting them to turn away because they saw they were coming to a protected church, the group was still worried that their barrier wouldn't last forever. That meant less frequent whole-group meetings, while the separate pieces worked on their individual parts of what needed to happen next, and it was only when everything was ready that they all gathered at the church once again.

In that time, Laurent had been working hard on magically altering the encrypted channel that the television had streaming towards it, trying to make it have the same protection if it were broadcasting onto a large channel, not just the small one the church's services were allowed to be shown on. His attempts were all done in the middle of the night, when the chances of someone observing what he was doing were slimmest, yet as she watched him play with the settings and try to get the shoddy camera in the church to connect without it just going to the church's channel, Kjelle had the feeling building inside her that this wasn't going to work out for them.

"What if they see us counter-broadcasting and choose to take action immediately?" she asked, not sure if that was a thing the Grimleal would be capable of doing but wanting to cover all bases. "Do you think that's something Lucina thought of when she decided this would be the plan?"

"If everything works as intended, they will have no clue how to take action. We are not making our identities obvious, after all, so them knowing we're connected to the hostages isn't possible." He stepped away from the television to come closer to her, sitting on the floor next to her and resting his head on her shoulder. "There is zero reason for concern right now, especially with someone such as myself involved. They won't be able to hurt anyone for what we're going to do, provided that it works."

"Then it better work, I'm not letting anyone else get hurt because of us." In that moment, Kjelle didn't think that she was taking all of the blame for what was happening on her shoulders, but rather she was going back to what had happened to her own parents and once again blaming herself for that. Most of the others, they couldn't blame themselves, yet she was directly responsible for her parents being out where they were when they were gunned down, and she couldn't let that happen again.

He could tell she was thinking about the past and he refrained from saying anything else, keeping his head where it was for quite a while. In fact, it was long enough that he actually dozed off on her, the stress of needing to change the television's streaming frequency tiring him out more than he'd realized. She wasn't going to complain about sleeping in such a position, and soon found herself falling asleep as well, leaning back and having him follow with her. They ended up being woken up in the morning by Libra coming to check on them, giving them the warning that they were to be joined by the others shortly and that they needed to ready themselves for what was about to happen.

By the time the whole group had gathered, there was zero evidence that they hadn't slept in beds and that they'd been in the main room of the church all night, but everyone else had their plan on their minds so they wouldn't have noticed anything being different anyway. "I'm thankful that some of you were willing to play arts and crafts for this," Lucina told the group, as she held a large cardboard box in front of her. "Without you, we'd be going into this with blankets over our faces. Masks will make it infinitely easier."

No one wanted to own up to being responsible for helping with the mask-making, but with how expertly made they all seemed to be, it wasn't just an overnight job like getting the ability to broadcast had been. While everyone was picking out a mask and putting it on, obscuring their eyes and identifiable facial features, Lucina was still talking about what they were going to do, which was tap into the broadcast channel during the Grimleal's weekly stream, getting the populace of Ylisse to see what the "rebellion" was up to. She insisted that she do all the speaking, having been practicing their group's speech and her forced-masculine voice that would hide who she was. It seemed so perfect, like everything was going to work to perfection, that arguing against her wasn't really an option.

Once they were all in position in front of the television and the camera, Libra standing right by to be in control of filming them, they had to wait for the broadcast to begin before they could do anything more. As they didn't have someone keeping a listening ear out for any rallying cry outdoors, it was a guessing game as to when it was time to tune in, but somehow they managed to get the screen on moments after the announcer's voice had come on to introduce the day's show. They started with the usual opening, giving the rundown of which Shepherds were dead and which were being held captive, something that always unnerved the young adults in the room.

When it changed from the rundown to a live feed from somewhere in town, where four bodies were up on stands, clearly alive yet barely hanging on, screams echoed throughout the church. Bothered by what they were being forced to see, Lucina gave the signal to take over the broadcast and Libra merely nodded, hitting a button on the camera he'd always used to record and share his sermons with people who couldn't attend. On the screen, they could see the Grimleal's propaganda fading out, being replaced with their image, thirteen masked faces staring out into most homes in the country of Ylisse. "Hello, we are here to put an end to this charade," she said, her voice clearly something she was putting on, but people who weren't familiar with her might've been easily fooled by it. "We are not the great Shepherds of yesteryear, but rather a resistance formed to rise up and save our land from the people occupying it. We mean no harm in what we do to anyone but the Grimleal."

She paused, her body twitching as she stood at the front of the group, everyone around her trying their best to stay rigid and not show any emotion. "You may have killed our Exalt, you may have destroyed families due to ties from long ago, but you will not destroy the rebellious spirit that exists in each and every one of us. Your intimidation tactics may work on some, but not on us, and we will make sure to put an end to what you're doing swiftly. You may take down those around us, but we're…we are the Gunfire Spitfires, and you'll never shoot us down!" The name she'd referred to them with had been Owain's creation, and in the excitement of hearing her say it he let out a whooping yell, punching up with both hands in the heat of the moment.

Two masks clattered to the floor, both having been knocked off when he'd punched upward, and in the panic of Lucina realizing that she wasn't obscured by anything any longer, she brought her hands to cover her face, but she was aware the damage had already been done there. She was recognizable by even common people, having grown up in the public eye, and now that her face could be attached to the resistance there was little hope of anything going right. Owain also was covering his face, his mask being the other one he'd knocked off, but his hand obscuring who he was had been a common thing in his youth so recognizing him wasn't going to be as easy.

Accusations about how he'd ruined everything were flying immediately after the stream had been shut off and the Grimleal's broadcast resumed, the announcer sounding annoyed at the takeover that had happened. "Thank Naga that the encryption should have meant they couldn't see a thing of what we did," Laurent muttered, before also adding, "and they have no idea where it came from, so that's two positives to this nightmare."

One of those positives quickly disappeared when, on the screen, an image of the two unmasked people was presented, the announcer giving commentary on it. "The great Shepherds you may not be, but Exalted children you are, and we have no room for traitorous scum in our plans for Ylisse," the voice said, as the picture moved to the bottom of the screen. "While we cannot go back on our _promise_ to not harm the Exalt until her sacrifices are taken care of…"

"They wouldn't kill someone while live," Lucina reminded them all, a feeling of shame for what had gone wrong filling her body. "It wouldn't do anything good for their image, especially after what we just did. The people know we're here, they know we want what's best for everyone, they know that—"

She was cut off by Owain's scream of panic as he saw, in the background of the stream, someone nocking an arrow and aiming it towards one of the men, someone with identical orange hair to his own. As they all watched, the arrow was pulled back and released, and in the moments before impact the announcer had one thing to say: "Your choice has been made, ignorant Spitfires. Be wary of who dies next."

The last thing they saw before the broadcast ended was the piercing impact of a weighted arrow connecting into a man's skull, accompanied with hollow laughter from whoever was filming the event. In the wake of what they just had to watch, Owain crumpled to the floor, crying out about how that shouldn't have happened, about how he hadn't meant to ruin things, about how it was his fault his father had just been killed in front of everyone, and that his mother now had one less line of defense before they killed her too.

It was while watching him lay there screaming in anger and sadness that Kjelle understood why everyone thought it was irrational for her to blame herself for her parents' murders. They had made the choice to go out that day, knowing that there was the threat of death looming over them, it wasn't her fault that they decided to come out with her. Owain's father, he hadn't had that choice, he didn't know his son was going to ruin an attempt at saving everything and be the one who paid for that mistake. "We've got to make sure no one else suffers like this," she said to herself, giving a slow shake of her head at what she was seeing. "We need to get out of what we've gotten ourselves into, right now."

Throwing her mask off of her face, hating the regret that was now attached to it, she headed out of the room on her own, going down the hallway that led to the science lab, but entering one of the rooms before it rather than making it to the end. That was where she'd been staying since she'd moved into the church, where she'd slept every night minus the one before, and that was where she was going to stay until she had a plan for what to do to get herself out of the mess. Her mother had been right all along, they'd be fine if they kept their noses out of where they didn't belong, and being one of the faces of the rebellion was definitely somewhere she had no place being.

Just like she had in the immediate aftermath of her parents dying, she spent the day alone in her room, lost in her thoughts, but unlike what had been the case when living with Lucina and Severa, she didn't feel like she had to lock the door. That was because she knew Laurent wouldn't try to come in and bother her, he would give her the space she needed and talk to her whenever she was ready for it. Yet she still found herself being interrupted by something, although it wasn't a person coming inside that did it; instead, it was the sound of unmistakable gunfire outside the church's walls that got her to seek someone else's company. She found Laurent across the hall in his room, his door opened and him looking around to see what was going on as well, and without exchanging a word they stepped out of their rooms and into the hall together, walking back towards the main gathering place to try and figure out what was going on.

Libra was standing in there, tying his long hair back with a ribbon as he watched the two approaching. "I'm going to step out to see what the cause of that was, Naga will be watching over me as I do so. Lucina and Severa just left, so I have reason to believe that…" He trailed off as he knotted the ribbon close to his head, not wanting to bring to words the possibility that the Grimleal had caused their first non-Shepherd (or married-to-Shepherd) casualties. "Ahem. They know not to harm me, I have immunity from their takeover due to my position within the church, so do not be concerned with my well-being as I do this."

"Father, at least let us escort you to the door," Laurent said, knowing his father was correct about his safety but not wanting to let him go blindly. "That way, if something did occur to our friends, we can be close by to help move their bodies." He had tensed up with his last words, something Kjelle felt as she was holding his arm close to her, something she'd done the moment her old roommates' names had been mentioned. It didn't seem real that they could have been killed when she'd heard those gunshots, and she wanted to believe that this was all just a precaution that was being taken.

Together, the three of them walked to the church's front door, which Libra opened without any fear of what was waiting on the other side. "Stay inside, both of you. After what occurred today there is zero reason for either of you to leave these walls." Sounding every bit the loving father Laurent had known him to be, he took a cautious step outside into the night, before the sound of more artillery in the distance, further from the church than what had happened before, caused him to look up into the sky for guidance on where to go.

He was several steps further from the door when the two still inside felt it safe to let him be, knowing that he'd be back sooner or later. They were in the process of closing the door when the sound of a shotgun fired right nearby, followed immediately by a loud clanging as something hit the fence surrounding the church grounds. "That sounded like…Father!" Laurent's eyes went wide behind his glasses as he threw the door back open and jerked himself away from Kjelle, dashing out into the darkness to investigate for himself. She hesitated for a moment before going right into the doorway, not sure if she needed to follow him out or not.

When she saw an unattached flame burst into existence right at the end of the walkway, illuminating two similar faces in different stages of pain, that was when she knew that it was her job to go outside after all. "I-I thought they'd keep their word," a weak voice coughed out, overshadowed by a breathy cry. "Never before did I expect to be taken down in such an undignified manner."

"They baited you outside, that's what they've done here tonight. Now stay strong, Father, we'll patch you up in no time and make them realize they've done wrong." Laurent sounded almost on the verge of tears, something that Kjelle hadn't heard from him before. She was right behind him, seeing the blood pooling at his feet from the gunshot that had felled his father, eerily lit up by the flame he'd conjured to use as light. "Together we can bring you back to your feet, I'm certain of it. Just…please don't leave me."

"My child, it was never my intention to leave you, I planned on being here until Ylisse was free once more. It seems that Naga had different plans for me, though, and I cannot argue with such divine judgment." With every word, Libra's voice was getting softer and weaker, something that was not helped by Kjelle being directed to pick him up and carry him back into the building. He didn't say much while in her arms, but with Laurent fretting over what to do to heal him she may have missed something that he'd tried saying.

In the panic of figuring out what needed to be done, Laurent completely missed seeing the life drain from his father's body, and he only caught onto the fact that he'd not been able to decide on what to do fast enough when Kjelle told him, as bluntly as she could manage, that she was holding what amounted to a corpse. "He passed so quickly, he used what strength he had to speak with me one last time," he solemnly said, motioning for where Kjelle should put the body down so they could take care of it. "Was that how it happened when they gunned your parents down?"

"I never had a chance to say anything to them after it happened, they were dead by the time they hit the ground," she told him, feeling conflicted about how she should approach the conversation further. On one hand, she was jealous that he'd gotten at least a few last words in with his father, but on the other, that wasn't a positive thing. The Grimleal had faltered in their accurate shot-making, and had let a victim suffer for moments longer than anyone else had so far. Or was that not a faltering after all, but a sign for things to come?

* * *

The next gathering came as a complete surprise, as nothing had been discussed or planned in secret yet there were people trickling into the church's gathering room, all in varying states of emotional distress. Several began crying hard the moment they knew they were safe inside the building, while others couldn't sit still and kept checking around the door to make sure no strangers were getting in. Unaware of anything that might have happened, as they'd been in the lab when they heard the ringing of the bell throughout the building, neither Kjelle nor Laurent wanted to ask what was going on even if they knew they should have.

Talking to others wasn't something they'd done in the time since Libra's murder, the only people they'd been in contact with being each other, and opening up for the first time felt more difficult than it needed to be. But when Lucina showed up last, wearing a different mask than the one she'd tried using to hide herself on their broadcast, she immediately went to the two sitting off from everyone else, shuffling her feet as she did. "We all found out about your father's passing," she said to Laurent, lifting her mask to show that she was stone-faced but sounded upset. "They had the audacity to gloat about it today, among other things. Why didn't you tell any of us what had happened?"

He wordlessly shrugged, and she nodded in understanding, having dealt with too many people she knew going into this sort of state after tragedy. "I'm going to guess that neither of you knew that there was a broadcast today, which means neither of you know the dire situation we've found ourselves in." She sighed as they both stared blankly at her, although Laurent's stare was more out of being disconnected from everything happening, while Kjelle's was because she really didn't know. "We have one week to disband or they're taking the Exalt's head with them. And that's if, and only if, we feel we can believe their claims of mercy for the next week."

"Aren't there still people standing between her and them?" Kjelle asked, feeling like Lucina had overlooked something, or perhaps the Grimleal were trying to pretend like they didn't have that protection. "It's not like we _did_ anything recently, there's no way they're gone."

"Actually…" The corners of Lucina's mouth fell into a deep frown as she turned her head to look back at everyone else in the room, the sound of the crying stronger then than it had been before. "They televised it, live, for all of us to watch, as part of our punishment for trying to silence them. That's why we all came here, because if all else fails we can hide out in the lab where they cannot find us."

The idea of three televised murders, when two of the people were parents to people in that very room and the third was like a guardian to several of them, made Kjelle feel sick to her stomach, but she acted strong and pushed through the conversation. "You're kidding me, they wouldn't do that just because they can. What about all that talk about them not wanting to show deaths as being their doing? You said this wouldn't happen!"

"Yes, I'm aware I did, and if I knew they would I would have given everyone with parents' lives hanging on our decision a choice to participate or not!" There was the sound of her strength crumbling in her voice, and it was obvious that Lucina was hit with more guilt about what had happened than she was letting on. "But we have to protect the last person keeping Ylisse how it needs to be, and that's why we're here. To talk about that protection."

"Lucy, can you stop yapping at your friends and get them over here?" Severa loudly called, and when they all looked to her they saw her with her hands cupped around her mouth to amplify her already-loud voice. "We've got to talk about this with everyone before someone shows up to put us all in the grave."  
"I wish you wouldn't be so brash about that," she muttered, before offering a hand to Kjelle to bring her to her feet. "Come on, we don't want to keep her waiting."

Looking at the hand she was expected to grab, Kjelle shook her head. "No thanks, we'll hear you from over here. I'm staying at Laurent's side, and I know he's not going to want to join everyone." True to her word, he seemed to be ignoring that there had been a call to move entirely, his back staying firmly against the wall they were sitting by. "You go, just make sure we know what's going on."

Lucina didn't seem to want to take that as an answer but Severa yelling for her again made her decide there was no choice but to listen. "Okay, but you better follow our words exactly," she said as she walked away, going back to the rest of the group to get them ready to hear what she needed to say. Kjelle mocked her as she left, mimicking her last couple words before grabbing Laurent's hand and holding it tightly as he merely stared in the direction Lucina had gone in. There was so much she wanted to tell him, but at that moment she knew that just being there was support enough, because that's what she would have liked when she was in such a state.

The meat of what was being discussed that day was about the absolutely disgusting behavior the Grimleal had partaken in by broadcasting three murders live for the people of Ylisse to watch. But talking about that meant more crying, more yelling, more tearful apologies about how it might've been so-and-so's fault that it happened and that they didn't mean for it to get like it did. Lucina had to work past all of that, knowing that they were in grave danger of losing their beloved country if they didn't act fast, and so she let out a shrill whistle, enough to catch everyone's attention. "Friends, please! There will be time for tears when we're flying out of this place and getting to safety later this week! Let's hold it together for a few more days, I know we can do it!"

That announcement did exactly as intended and got everyone to silence themselves long enough to all focus on her once more, but Lucina wasn't the one who spoke next. "My dad was going to try being here to bring the tickets but he couldn't make it yet," Cynthia told the group, Inigo sitting next to her nodding in agreement to back her statement up. "He has them though, he's just working on a way to enchant them so the Grimleal don't realize what they are as he's carrying them through town."

"It's a miracle they managed to get here without being destroyed," Severa added, giving Cynthia a relieved smile for what she'd just said. "This whole time, with everyone involved in getting those here, I've been worried that they'd take them and realize the Exalt's name is all over the note that's been exchanged." She lifted her eyes up towards the ceiling, closing them and taking a small, content breath. "Thanks, Mother, your last gift to us really worked out after all."

"Severa's mother happened to know someone living in Hoshido, and before she tried to leave she gave us the address of the castle there, to contact this man. He put us through to the royal family, and in secret the princes and princesses of Hoshido have been sending letters back and forth to our dear Exalt." Lucina too was looking up towards the ceiling for a moment, before her eyes were back down on the people gathered around her. "Of course, sending messages directly from her would be nothing short of a death sentence, so we had a friendly mage on our side helping us out, what with a false identity and stolen address to use to cover our tracks?"

For a moment, everyone started to look towards Laurent, but when Cynthia cleared her throat they all were focusing on her. "Come on guys, I even told you my dad has the tickets and you still thought it was someone among us? I'm sure Laurent could've done it too, but he…yeah, we couldn't ask him to do that, not now."

The conversation turned into talking about specifics relating to the tickets and their escape from Ylisse. To optimally cover their tracks, the plane was a private one, the flight leaving in the dead of night, and nothing about it would say anything as to reveal who they were or what they were doing. With enchanted tickets, their destination wouldn't be known, and with it being in the middle of the night getting everyone necessary there to take the flight would be much easier than if it were in the day. "There's fifteen tickets," Lucina let everyone know after the details had been established. "One of each of us, plus one for each of our parents still left alive."

That tidbit of information left everyone speechless for a moment, before a couple cries filled the room, coming from the two who'd watched their last parent get killed not long ago. "We'd originally asked for more tickets, but when they arrived we had people do the favor of ripping the extras up to prevent unwanted passengers boarding with us." To prove her point, Cynthia and Inigo both reached into their pockets and pulled out shredded bits of tickets, tucking them away almost immediately. "Some others in here have them too, don't think it's just the two of us."

"Call me a pessimist, but how are we certain this will work?" Gerome asked, his voice flat as usual. "My parents attempted to flee and were gunned down, as were several others', what makes us special?"

"That we're fleeing from within Ylisse itself, I suppose. They all tried crossing at borders, we're not trying that." Lucina looked straight at him and pulled her mask back over her face, making him do the same with the mask he'd been wearing around his neck. "We'll be taking every precaution to make sure nothing goes wrong. That means not gathering anywhere and sneaking through the dead of night to collect everyone on our way, and we already talked about the magical elements to this job. It's not going to be easy, but we're going to survive."

What came next was the discussion of what time this would be taking place at. The first group to be picked up would be approached just after two in the morning, and slowly and carefully they would all cross town, collecting everyone else in their pairs. This would end at the church, where Lucina insisted the doorbell would be rang at exactly three-forty in the morning, not a minute sooner or later. She told that in specific to the pair sitting against the wall, after everyone else knew their pick-up times and knew they had a couple days to prepare before making their escape to Hoshido. "What an odd time, but it's not predictable so I guess it makes sense," Kjelle admitted once she'd heard the exact time of pick-up. "We'll be awake and waiting for it, don't worry, it's just a strange time to know for sure."

"We have to do strange times in order to not be caught," Lucina replied, her eyes focused on Laurent and how he seemed to not be mentally present at the moment. "Say, do you think he's going to be okay? He's taking this a lot rougher than you took what happened to your parents, and you handled that poorly."  
"He's still coping, we just have to give him time. Go and figure out what else you have left to do before we leave, we'll see you in a few days." She knew she was pushing her friend out, but at that moment Kjelle knew that Lucina being there was not helping Laurent's mental state at all. As she finally made her way towards the door, that was when Kjelle stood up and followed her out, to make sure the door was carefully locked behind her. But as she was locking the door, she felt the spark of magic come from within the church, and she turned around just quickly enough to see Laurent standing there, his tome in hand. "Just what do you think you're doing?" she asked him, testing the locked door before approaching him. "What have you said about using magic not in the lab?"

"I was going to electrify the knob so no one could enter, as my father would always insist be done when we wanted no further visitors." His words were all forced, it very obvious that Laurent did not want to be speaking much at all. "Shall we retreat to somewhere that magic is allowed, again with that very protective enchantment?"

"If there's a way to stay in the lab until we can leave this place, certainly." Kjelle knew that they'd basically been living in that room since the murder had happened, the one place in the church no one would be able to find if the building was taken over. They'd moved a mattress onto the floor, cleared out some space for any belongings they had, and after some fiddling had managed to get working appliances in the room. With there only being a few days left of living this way, they had enough food to get by, and that meant that as long as they weren't called outside for any reason, they really could stay in there until Lucina and whoever she brought with her came calling in those early morning hours.

That left so much time to spend together, and most of it was spent in near-silence, as Laurent played with his mother's science machines in the lab, Kjelle sitting on their makeshift bed watching him. So much had happened in the past month, from her parents being killed to her being removed from her home to live in the church, from not knowing this man to being closer to him than anyone else, from wanting to stay out of all the Grimleal drama to being forced to escape from it after getting dragged in. She was at a loss as to what to say or do anymore, everything they've done being orchestrated by someone else that had the best intentions for them. All she felt like she could do was watch, as if she didn't have the strength to make her own decisions.

Was that something her mother would have wanted, though? For her to sit back and let everyone else run what was happening? No, her mother would have wanted her to take control of as much as she could and make it best, because she wasn't meant for idly sitting around doing nothing. She rose from the bed and came up behind where Laurent was working, placing her hands on his back once she felt she was close enough. "May I help you?" he asked, not looking from the little plant he was altering through a stream of magic erupting from his fingertips. "You are standing in my light."

"I want you to talk to me, you can't lose yourself in continuing your mother's work forever." His coping mechanism was a lot more productive than hers had been, but he still needed to speak about what was bothering him if he was going to move on. "You had me talking about my parents to you, now you get to talk about your father to me. Put the plant down, stop using the magic, let's just talk, damn it."

He sighed, but did as she demanded, and she lifted her hands up from his back once he was ready to get up from his spot. They moved to the bed and sat down together on it, which quickly turned into laying together, bodies splayed however felt comfortable, as they talked for hours about everything bothering him, in specific the fact that his father's guaranteed protection had been violated without any apology. That was the hardest thing to move past, and they spent so much time talking about how that was the turning point in the Grimleal's attack on their whole way of life.

Of course, they spent a lot of time doing other things too, such as curling up together and laying in silence, the other's presence more comforting than any words could have been. They weren't doing this out of romance, but out of the need to have someone there to hold them, and being such close friends meant that they could rely on the other to be their rock in those dark times. So the days were spent with some magical science experiments, some talking, some cuddling, and a lot of sleeping, just to get through the remaining time they had before they could be free of the sneaking and working towards getting their country back somewhere safe for them to be.

When the doorbell rang through the church that morning, it came immediately after Laurent had finished tucking his pocket tomes into his bag, the last act of packing before they needed to leave. However, he wasn't ready to jump right to go answer the door, even if Kjelle was, and that was because of one tiny detail: the large, flame-and-magic clock on the wall said it was just before three-thirty that morning, meaning that Lucina was over ten minutes ahead of schedule. "She made it clear it would happen exactly at three-forty, I have my doubts about that being her," he reminded Kjelle, as she was opening the door to the lab (he'd kept the magical enchantment lock off of it for that very reason). "Let's remain in here until the appropriate time and proceed with caution even then."

"She's probably ahead and wouldn't being ahead be a good thing in this case? Getting us all out of Ylisse faster means less chance of any of us dying." She was itching to get out, with her backpack of clothes and important belongings slung over her shoulder, but still Laurent hesitated, hanging back and imploring for her to reconsider. To take control of the moment, she raised her voice and confidently told him, "Seriously, I'm tired of having to act on everyone else's command. I am capable of making my own decisions, and I'm deciding right now to go get out of this place. Now are you coming with me or not?"

He squirmed where he stood, picking up his bag and holding it in front of him. "Must you speak to me in such a manner when we are about to convene with friends? You know how I feel about the dominance." It wasn't a great time for her to have picked to get him flustered, but it was that or stay stuck in the lab for the next ten minutes, leaving Lucina out in the night with the Grimleal always lurking. "If you insist we go check, it would be smartest for us to check together. Let me say my farewells to this place and we shall go."

Not quite three minutes later and they were both standing right by the door, the bell still blaring as whoever was on the other side was really trying to get their attention. "The next time we see this place, we'll be working on building a better Ylisse," Kjelle said quietly, watching as Laurent was looking around the entryway, checking for something in specific. "That'll be something. Hope Lucina gives us all important roles when we come back, like her family did for the Shepherds. We're part of this fight, aren't we?"

Reaching into his jacket, Laurent pulled out his well-used fire tome and chuckled to himself, something uncharacteristic for him. "We are, but dear Kjelle, why do you think we'll ever see this place again? Go on, open that door, let's take our first steps into uncertainty."

Whether it _was_ Lucina or not on the other side, turning back was not going to be an option, not for either of them. Exactly as the door was opened, he cast a large fireball into the heart of the church, ready to destroy any and all evidence the building might have held about what they'd done. They had seconds to decide what to do, go blindly into that uncertain night or retreat and burn with what they'd once had—and neither of them were quitters.

* * *

 **A/N: This was meant as a birthday fic for Kjelle, but goodness gracious I kinda went overboard with that didn't I?**


End file.
